NNIITO Hospital Teams With Zdravprint to 3D Print Splints, Bone Replacements & Medical Models

Formnext Germany

Share this Article

zdra53D printing is beginning to make a huge impact within the field of medicine, as doctors, surgeons and hospital personnel are beginning to realize the benefits that the technology provides. Surgeries are being sped up, patients are understanding their upcoming surgeries better, and post-surgical healing is happening quicker than ever.
Back in February, we reported on a company called Zdravprint which was looking to bring 3D printed casts to market. Today, we have been informed by Zdravprint that they have successfully been able to do just that, plus much more.

“Zdravprint has significantly moved forward,” Nadir Khabdulin, of Maxfield Capital Venture Fund, a seed investor of Zdravprint, tells 3DPrint.com. “They have expanded their range of products, gained traction and signed several agreements with clients. One of them is big hospital which now is using 3D printed casts to cure their patients”

zdra4That hospital is NNIITO, and they aren’t only 3D printing casts for their patients, but they are also printing finger splints, models of injured bones which doctors are using to train with prior to surgery, and casting molds which are used for bone replacement bipolymers.

“They sell almost 10 splints per week,” Khabdulin tells us.

Surprisingly, these medical aids are not 3D printed on large scale industrial 3D printers, but are actually being fabricated using a MakerBot Replicator 2. It all started just 2 months ago, when Zdravprint began integrating a set of 3D printing applications into the large traumatology and orthopedics hospital which is located in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia.

zdra1“They use the apps to input biometric parameters of the patient, then a 3D model of a finger splint is calculated in our cloud customizer and sent to the printer,” CEO of Zdravprint, Fedor Aptekarev tells 3DPrint.com. “In 5 to 30 minutes, an individual splint is ready to be applied to the injured phalanx. Within two months, local doctors helped us create a set of models for frequent cases that we integrated in our cloud customizer. 3D printed splints are a hot topic in the media so we received requests for this technology to be integrated in hospitals outside [of] Russia. We’re working on regulatory procedures.”

While the 3D printers and the apps were initially intended to be used to 3D print splints and casts, doctors who had been using the technology soon found even more uses for it. The doctors, with the help of Zdravprint, began taking 3D CT scan data and printing these as tangible 3D models as well.

In addition to this, doctors also began using the 3D printers to produce individual bone replacement implants.

“First we model and 3D print a casting mold of the bone defect out dissolvable filaments,” Aptekarev tells us. “Then the biopolymer is injected into the mold. After it hardens, the mold is dissolved in appropriate liquid and the implant is sent for pre-surgery testing and cleaning. Before 3D printing [was available] they could not produce individual implants inside the hospital.”

While these advancements for this hospital seem quite fascinating, Aptekarev tells us that Zdravprint isn’t done innovating quite yet. Next they plan to build a large 3D printer which will be capable of printing braces for knees, elbows and shoulders. Additionally, they plan to expand outside of Russia, with the launch of a new website called healthprint.io in the near future.

zdra2

What do you think about the use of desktop 3D printers such as a MakerBot Replicator 2, in creating casts, splints, medical models and actual bone replacements for patients? How soon will we begin to see all hospitals use this technology? Discuss in the Zdravprint forum thread on 3DPB.com.

zdra3



Share this Article


Recent News

3D Printing News Briefs, July 5, 2025: Etsy Sellers, Kickstarter, Bridge Repair, & More

HP and Firestorm Labs Form Partnership to Use Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printers in Deployable Factories



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

Reinventing Reindustrialization: Why NAVWAR Project Manager Spencer Koroly Invented a Made-in-America 3D Printer

It has become virtually impossible to regularly follow additive manufacturing (AM) industry news and not stumble across the term “defense industrial base” (DIB), a concept encompassing all the many diverse...

Sponsored

Inside The Barnes Global Advisors’ Vision for a Stronger AM Ecosystem

As additive manufacturing (AM) continues to revolutionize the industrial landscape, Pittsburgh-based consultancy The Barnes Global Advisors (TBGA) is helping shape what that future looks like. As the largest independent AM...

Featured

Ruggedized: How USMC Innovation Officer Matt Pine Navigates 3D Printing in the Military

Disclaimer: Matt Pine’s views are not the views of the Department of Defense nor the U.S. Marine Corps  Throughout this decade thus far, the military’s adoption of additive manufacturing (AM)...

U.S. Congress Calls Out 3D Printing in Proposal for Commercial Reserve Manufacturing Network

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee moved the FY 2026 defense bill forward to the House floor. Included in the legislation is a $131 million proposal for...